• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Mayor Benjie Miranda has condemned the killing of 74-year-old Leonara “Leonor” Anguit on February 4 in Barangay Tapi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, which the Armando Sumayang Command Jr. of the New People’s Army has claimed.
The rebel group justified the killing of the elderly victim by accusing Anguit of being a military asset of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Miranda, in a radio interview, however, ruled out the possibility that Anguit was a military spy, noting that the victim even accommodated the rebel remnants in her home prior to the encounter.
The gunbattle in April last year claimed the lives of seven rebels, and the recovery of several high-powered firearms and explosives.
The house of the victim, which was damaged as a result of gunbattle, was reconstructed through the efforts of Miranda and his wife, who had used their personal funds.
In a statement, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) reported that Anguit was the 26th victim of summary execution carried by rebel remnants since last year in Negros Island Region.
According to the NTF-ELCAC, “Anguit’s murder fits a documented pattern of systematic spy-tagging and liquidation in Negros”.
The Army’s15th Infantry Battalion also condemned earlier the summary execution of Anguit by rebel remnants in southern Negros.
The rebel group, in a statement, vowed to go after those helping state forces.*
